Who are you, Owen Grady?

by Ghostly Presence

Owen and Claire are sent to Masrani Global's headquarters in Manhattan to deal with press after the Indominus rex disaster. In the midst of all the interviews and meetings, Claire and Owen find the time to get to know each other better little by little. There's laughter, tears, joy and pain; will they overcome it all? *edited version in AO3*

26. Chapter 24 - Part 2

24 - Pt. 2

We send a mass email to our friends and family. We have a total of 80 people coming to our wedding. It's going to be small, but awesome!

2 weeks before our engagement party, it's the middle of the night and I lie awake in bed thinking of all the things we have to do in such a short time, when I feel Claire gasp and sit up abruptly. She's breathing fast and her hand goes to rest on her belly.

"Claire, what's going on? Are you okay?" I ask nervous not knowing what made her react like this. I turn on the night lamp. "Claire."

"They moved."

"What?" What moved?

She turns to look at me. "The babies, I can feel them move." She takes my hand and rests it on the side of her distended stomach. At first I feel nothing, but then I feel something push my hand. My eyes widen as much as hers.

"Oh, wow. You guys are saying hello?" I laugh. "I thought it was still early for you to feel them move. How does that feel?" I ask Claire.

A smile starts creeping onto her face. "Well, there are 2 of them. There's less space. It feels weird, like… butterflies, but stronger. It startled me. Did I wake you?"

My hand is still resting on her stomach. I shake my head. "No, I was already awake. I was thinking of all the things we have to get for you, guys." I lean forward and kiss the place where I feel them move.

Claire lies back down and I copy her movements. "When do you think we should start buying everything?"

I think it over for a minute. "We have a lot of things to think about right now. With the wedding and all. Maybe we could make a list with all the baby things. Each week we buy something and we scratch it off the list. That way we only focus on one thing at the time."

She turns to look at me. "I think my organization skills have rubbed off on you. I like it."

"It was bound to happen at some point." I lean forward and kiss her.

The next 2 weeks pass by in a blink of an eye. Before I know it, Claire and I are buying new clothes to wear for our engagement party. Claire had a bit of a melt down when she realized she would have to buy maternity clothes soon. At 4 months pregnant, she can't close her jeans without having to make some acrobatics. It's driving her nuts.

The building we live in has an entertainment area, so we booked it for the day and that's were our party will be. Out of the 80 people we invited to our wedding, 55 could make it to the engagement party, which is awesome considering the short notice.

As soon as we sent all the invites, nonna called and told us that her engagement present would be to provide the food. We told her that it wasn't necessary, but she insisted. She said that organizing a party was stressful enough and the last thing Claire needed right now was stress. I couldn't disagree with her there.

A lot of our friends don't know Claire is pregnant, including her friends at work and mine. She's showing now, but her bump is small enough to cover it with baggy clothes. Since it's winter, it wasn't very hard for her to hide her bump under coats or loose sweaters. We waited the customary 3 months to make sure everything went well, and now on month 4, it's time to announce it to the world.

"Have you thought of names?" I ask Claire while we're driving back from the supermarket.

"Yes and no. I haven't thought of names now, but I had moments before where I would allow myself to think of what my life would be like if I ever had a kid. And in my mind, for some reason, I always thought I would have a girl. I have this one name that I've always loved and I told myself that if I ever had a daughter, I would name her that."

I look at her expectantly. "Well? What is it?"

She bites down on her lip. "I don't want to say."

I frown. "What? Why not?"

"Because I know you. I just told you that I love that name, so you're going to want to name our daughter that, and what if it doesn't fit her?"

I look at her for a moment. "I never understood why people say that. Okay, let me give you an explanation of why I think any names we pick will fit our kids. Okay?"

"Okay."

"So let's imagine we're at home, and we are sitting on the floor of our bedroom playing with both our babies, okay? And we decide to give them a piece of paper and a crayon each for them to draw something. What's going to make whatever they draw, special? The piece of paper and crayon we gave them? Or the fact that they drew it?"

"The fact that they drew it." She answers without missing a beat.

"Do you see were I'm going with this?"

"I think so. But explain anyway."

"What I mean is, it doesn't matter what name we give our babies, because at the end of the day, they're are going to be their own person. They're going to put their own… thing to their names, you know? I'll give you a more specific example. If I say 'Ellen', what's the first face that comes to your mind?"

"Ellen Degeneres."

"Exactly! And I was expecting you to say that, because she has singled herself out from everyone by the things she's done. It's going to be the same for our kids. They are going to do their own thing and that's going to single them out from everyone else. And their names is not going to change that."

She laughs softly. "You really thought that through."

I shrug. "It always bothered me, when people say that a name is not going to fit their baby. The baby is a new person; any name is going to fit. Now, it's a completely different thing if you want the baby's name to sound nice with your last name." I open the gate to the apartment building. "Speaking of, is it going to be Grady-Dearing?"

She wrinkles her nose. "I don't like the sound of that. Not even Dearing-Grady. It's the 'ing' and 'y' that messes everything up. I think we should go with just Grady."

I park the car in our assigned spot. "Really? It doesn't bother you?"

She shakes her head. "No, it doesn't. Plus, now that we're on the subject of last names, I'm not going to change my name when we get married." She says it as if she doesn't care, but I can tell she's afraid I'm going to react badly to this.

I look at her and bark out a laugh. "I wasn't expecting you too. Claire Dearing means something to people. You made your own person. Why would you change it to Claire Grady? It doesn't have the same ring to it. Claire Dearing is a powerful name and I want our kids to know Claire Dearing, not Claire Grady."

She's smiling. "So you're going to be a modern husband, huh?"

I shrug. "You already make more money than I do. Win for feminism."

Claire shakes her head and goes to open the car door, but I lock it quickly. "What are you doing?"

I open my eyes wide to her. "You haven't told me the name. I'm not opening the doors until you tell me the name."

She exhales loudly. 'Fine. The name is…"

When I heard the name, I knew it was the name for our girl. It just flowed so well and it matches the last name perfectly too. At first she didn't believe me when I told her I loved it. So I just said it over and over again. Claire's whole expression changed when I wouldn't stop repeating it. I don't think she had thought to say the complete name out loud. Once she did, we decided we had a name for our daughter. Now we have to find a name for our boy!

I unload the boxes and put them all in the kitchen. I make some popcorn and sit on the couch with Claire and look for a movie to watch. "Should we make the list now?"

"Babies' list?" Claire asks popping some popcorn in her mouth.

"Yeah. I can pick you up from work on Monday and we'll go buy the first thing on the list. Or we can wait until the weekend. What do you think?"

"Mm. No, I think Monday is good. The weekends are already good. Maybe we should make Mondays fun. Look forward to them."

I nod. "Okay then. Let me get my tablet."

I give Claire the bowl of popcorn and stand up. I go to our room to get my tablet and a memory pops into my head; a childhood memory. When I was 12 this little kid was been bullied. Kids a couple of years older than him had broken this little kid's bike and were throwing his books at him. I remember he had a cut above his eyebrow and silent tears were coming down his cheeks as he took the beating. I recall the blinding anger I felt; I went over to them and beat the living crap out of them. Of course there were 3 against me and they manage to hit me 2 or 3 times. When the bullies left, I went to the kid, who couldn't have been more than 6 years old and asked him if he was okay. He told me that he had received worse and thanked me. When I asked him why he didn't try to at least scream, he said that they were bothering his sister, and if taking a beating was going to make them leave her alone, then he didn't mind. I remember this kid's name.

I grab the tablet and go back to the living room. I grab the control remote and pause the movie. I sit back down and Claire looks at me.

"I just remembered something, and I want to tell you the story."

"Okay." She says slowly.

I start telling her the story, and as I get to the end, her hands go to her belly unconsciously. "He took a cruel beating to protect his sister?"

"Yeah." I look at her to see if she's thinking the same thing I am.

"He has a beautiful name." She says looking down at her belly.

"Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I think I am."

Just like that, in a matter of hours, both our babies have names.

The next day, we wake up early to make sure everything is ready to go. Isabella texted me yesterday at night to tell us that Alexander and her were already in Philly. Nonna and my parents were arriving today in the morning and Karen and the kids should be landing in Philly any minute now.

"Ms Dearing, at what time should we bring the food out?"

"The party starts at 7pm, let's give everyone about half an hour to get here, and then you guys can bring the food out. So, 7:30pm. The drinks though, those start passing them around as soon as the guests arrive."

He nods. "Yes, Ms Dearing."

"Thank you, Ted."

Claire turns around and starts scanning everything, mumbling to herself. I come up behind her and hug her. I give her a kiss on the cheek. "Where do you want me? Do you need anything?"

She rests her head on my shoulder. "Can you get me something to eat? I'm starving."

I frown. "We had breakfast two hours ag-"

"Oh my God, don't finish that sentence!"

I chuckle. "Okay, sorry. Protein bar sound good?"

"Protein bar sounds perfect. Thank you."

I give her another kiss and let go of her. She goes back to talking to the small staff we hired to help us out tonight. I go back to our apartment to grab Claire her protein bar when I remember the present I bought her. A couple of days ago, I sneaked out while Claire was taking a nap and went to roam the streets for a present. I wanted to give her something to commemorate the special event; and I don't mean the engagement party, I mean her pregnancy. She's giving me the 2 best things I could ask for, I feel this is the least I could do.

I open the cabinet next to all of my video games and pull out the box. After about 40 minutes of just walking around, I had almost given up, when I walked by a jewellery store and went in just in case.

I walked around and saw nothing that represented this stage of our lives. I was about to walk out, when an older woman, an employee, asked me if I needed help with anything. I told her about the babies and she smiled at me and asked me to wait for a moment. She went to the back of the store and brought back with her a gold bracelet. At first I didn't see what was so special about a simple gold bracelet, but then she showed me two pendants. One of a boy and one of a girl. Very simple designs, nothing over the top. Very simple.

"Have you two picked out names? You could have them engraved at the back of each pendant."

"Yes, we have."

I knew then, that was the perfect present. I bought it and came home just in time before Claire woke up. I picked it up the following week on my way home from work.

Now, as I look at it, I realise how badly I want to meet our kids. I want them to be here already. I close the box and take it to our bedroom. I leave it on top of Claire's pillow. I run back down to the entertainment area and see that Claire has everything pretty much in place.

"Here." I hand her the protein bar.

"Thank you." She gives me a kiss.

"Everything looks pretty much ready here. Is there anything else that needs to be done?" I ask her.

She shakes her head. "No. Everything has been doubled checked. I think we're done here."

"Awesome. What do you want to do now?"

"Put my feet up because they're killing me."

I offer her my arm. "Well, let's go then."

We walk to the elevator and head to the apartment.

"Is it just me or is time flying by?" Claire asks when we step off the elevator.

"It is. But I don't mind. It means the day we get married and the day the babies are born is going to come faster."

She smiles. "Yeah, I know. But I'm afraid we're going to blink and the kids are going to be going to college, you know?"

I nod. "Yeah, that's probably true also. But we'll take it one day at a time. Until they go to college, those are a lot of days."

"Yeah. I don't even know why I'm worrying about that. They haven't even been born yet!"

I pull out the keys to open the door. "That's because you love them already."

I open the door and step aside so Claire can walk in first. "Yes, I do."

I step in after Claire and close the door. "Hey, do you want anything else?"

"Glass of water, please." She takes off her shoes, bents down to pick them up and walks to our bedroom.

As I pour some water into a glass, I hear Claire's steps coming from the bedroom.

"What's this?" She asks softly.

I hand her the glass with water. "For you. A little something to thank you for the amazing gifts you're giving me."

She smiles. "Owen, you don't have to get me anything."

I shrug. "Too late, I already bought it."

She shakes her head and opens the box. She gasps. "Oh, Owen." She pulls the bracelet out of the box and looks at it. "It's so beautiful."

I nod towards the bracelet. "Turn it around."

She does and when she sees the names, she sighs. "It's perfect. I love it. I take it back, you can get me everything you like. Thank you."

She walks up to me and kisses me.

She pulls back and slides her left hand inside the bracelet. She lifts her arm so she can look at it better. "Do you think I should wear it tonight?"

"If you want, but won't our guests figure out we're having twins before we deliver the news?"

She huffs. "I'm wearing a dress that's hugging my figure. Their eyes won't be on my wrist, but on this." She says pointing to her bump.

I nod. "True."

As 7pm approaches, we change into our brand new clothes and we go down to the entertainment area. Guests have started to arrive and we greet them one by one.

Claire is still wearing her coat. We had to walk through an open area to get here, so nobody questions the fact that she's wearing one.

We see Alex and Isa walk in hand in hand. She looks beautiful as always. As soon as she sees us her smile widens and she pulls Alex forward.

"Bro! Sis!" She hugs us.

"Guys, congratulations on the b-!" Alex says.

"Shh. Nobody knows yet, just family." Claire whispers to him.

"Oh. Wouldn't that have been awkward?" He laughs. "Well, congratulations on everything." He says and hugs us both.

All of the guests arrive within then next 40 minutes, including all of our family. Claire and I look at each other and nod.

Now's the time.

We walk to the opposite side of the entrance and because we're moving together, everyone's eyes follow us. I look at Claire and then to our guests.

"First of all, thank you so much for coming in such short notice. We love you more for that."

Everyone laughs and nods.

"Only our family knows this, but now we want to share the news with everyone. Claire, do the honours please."

Claire smiles. "I'm pregnant." She takes off her coat and everyone gasps. Applause and hoots can be heard all over the place. I raise my hand to silence them.

"Now, there's something else. We found out what we're having. You guys want to know?" I ask.

"Yeah!" Everyone answers.

"We are having… a boy!" I say.

There's a chorus of aws.

Claire raises her forefinger and smirks. "And a girl."

Everyone gasps and Karen can be heard laughing hysterically. She's so enjoying the fact that Claire didn't want to have kids for so long and now, she's having 2.

All of our friends start congratulating us and wishing us the best.

Mum, dad and nonna walk to us and hug us. "You two should play the lottery. You always have improbable things happen to you!" mum tells us.

"I wonder if that will ever stop." Claire tells her.

Mum shakes her head. "It probably won't."

Nonna steps forward. "Enjoy this time together, cause you definitely won't later!" She starts laughing.

"Don't remind me! This next 6 months will probably be the last time we sleep properly." I tell nonna.

"Oh Owen, I wish you a son just like you." Dad tells me.

Claire frowns. "I don't think I like the sound of that."

Dad barks out a laugh. "No, you shouldn't! Someday I'll tell you the story of when Owen covered Phillip in marmalade and tied him up on the fence and sent the dogs loose on him."

Claire's eyes widen. "You did what?!"

I rub the back of my neck. "He was annoying me."

"Oh my God, I'm so screwed." She says.

I sigh. "Yeah, you probably are…"

Phillip couldn't make it to our engagement party and he was pretty pissed off about that. The next day after our party though, we get a call from the gate telling us we have a delivery and if we should let the delivery guy up. Claire and I look at each other confused and we tell the gatekeeper 'yes'.

"Did you order something?" I ask Claire.

"No, I didn't."

The doorbell rings and I open the door, and there isn't one delivery guy; there are 3.

"Hey." I look at the 3 guys a little confused. They are all carrying a huge basket each.

"Is this the Grady residence?" The one at the front says.

I nod slowly. "Yes, it is."

"Great. Where can we put this?" He asks me. And that's when I realize the 3 of them are actually sweating. Those must be heavy.

"Oh, sorry guys. Come on in, you can put it on the table over there."

The 3 of them walk in and place the baskets with a thud on the table.

"This is a delivery from Mr Phillip Bentham." He pulls out from his back pocket a flash drive, an envelope and a piece of paper. "And he told us, to uh…" he opens the piece of paper. "… to read this to you. He says: Dear Moron & lovely Claire…"

Claire laughs and the 3 delivery guys try to contain their laughter. He continues.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there yesterday. I'm sure you two had a blast. The delivery guys should hand you a flash drive and an envelope…" He stretches out his hand and gives me both the envelope and the flash drive. "… in the flash drive, I explain what happened at my restaurant yesterday and what's in the basket and the envelope. P.S Do NOT watch this video in a laptop, watch this on an HD TV cause that's what my face deserves."

I nod. "Is there anything else he asked you to do? Slap me on the face or anything along those lines?"

He shakes his head. "No, sir. That's it. Have a good afternoon." They nod at Claire and I, and walk to the door.

I pull a 20 from my wallet and give it to them. "Thank you."

I close the door and Claire laughs again. "I love Phillip."

"Of course you do. He loves to embarrass me!"

"Well, you did tell me it was his hobby."

I motion for Claire to sit on the couch in front of the TV. "Come on. Let's see what our lovely friend has to say."

I walk over to the TV and look for the USB outlets. I connect the flash drive and sit next to Claire. I press play.

"You better be watching on an HD TV, you piece of shit!"

"Goddammit. I am! This dude, man!" I say pointing to the TV.

"Shh, let me listen to what he has to say." Claire says.

I stop talking and we watch Phillip. "About 3 months ago, someone called to make a reservation for a private dinning room for yesterday, okay? When Sandra, she's in charge of the reservations, asked under what name they should write the reservation to, they said Giselle Carter." He looks straight at us, or the camera actually. "Nothing, right? That name means nothing to you. And it didn't to me either. Turns out, 4 days ago we get another call to the restaurant, same person who made the reservation for Giselle Carter, this was a man calling by the way, and he asked us if everything was okay with the reservation. Sandra assured him that their private dinning room was booked under the name they had given her and to not worry about it. Now, and this is the cool part, Claire please, open the envelope and read it out loud. It's addressed to you both, but Owen has never been a good reader. You can pause the video here."

I shake my head and pause the video as instructed. I hand Claire the envelope and she starts opening it.

"I'm getting kind of anxious now." She pulls the letter from the envelope and starts reading.

"Dear Claire and Owen, chef Phillip tells me you are both expecting twins. Congratulations! I wish you both the best and good luck with those two babies. Claire, I saw you on the news, and wow am I impressed by you leading that dinosaur out of its cage. You're the embodiment of girl power! Owen, you're lucky you found such a strong, fierce woman. Good luck with everything. Love, Beyoncé."

My eyes widen. "What?!"

"Oh my God! Beyoncé wrote us a letter?! Beyoncé knows who I am?! Phillip! Press play, press play!"

I press play, still in shock that he did that for us. "You read it? I know, I'm awesome! If this doesn't get me the spot of godfather, I don't know what will! Anyway, Jay Z and Beyoncé show up in my restaurant, everyone is in shock to even realize the magnitude of their presence, right? But thank God nobody fangirled in front of them. So, they get taken to their private room, the one you guys where in actually, and by the time they're done, they ask to talk to me. So I go, and they were delighted by the food, obviously, and they tell me that they are definitely coming back for more as soon as they can get a reservation in. I, in that moment, think about you guys, cause I felt terrible for not going, and I tell them I'm glad they liked the food, cause I was worried I was going to screw up because my mind was in Philly. And they are being super nice, and they asked me 'why is that?' and I tell them about you two. So, Beyoncé, she's like 'I bet they really wanted you there.' And I went, 'of course, I'm the life of the party' and they laughed, which was awesome. And I tell them who you are and they both recognized your names from the news. And then Beyoncé, she's like 'I want to write them a small note, would you mind?' And I'm like, 'No, I wouldn't mind, Beyoncé.' So she writes you two the note and hands it to me and she told me, to tell you Claire, and I quote 'tell her to take the drugs.' So yeah, that's what I was doing yesterday and the reason I couldn't go to your party. Am I forgiven?" He bats his eyelashes at us.

"Oh my God, Phillip! He's definitely going to be godfather of our children!" Claire says looking down at the letter again.

I nod slowly. "Yeah, he definitely is." The video continues.

"Okay, so that explains the letter. Now, the baskets…"

"Oh right, I forgot about the baskets!" Claire says turning to look at them.

"Brother, you called me to tell me you are having twins, you tell me it's a boy and a girl, but you refuse to tell me their names, which annoys me, because I wanted to personalize shit! But whatever. There are 3 baskets, one is for the boy, one is for the girl and one is for Claire, and you don't deserve anything. She's doing all the hard work, man!"

We laugh at that. "That's true." I say.

"I hope you like what I got the babies and I hope you like what I got you, Claire. I'll definitely by seeing you guys for the wedding. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Love you, guys. Peace!"

The screen goes to black and we sit there for a moment staring at it.

"He really is an amazing person." Claire says.

"Yes, he is."

We stand up and look at the baskets. We both melt when we see the baby clothes and toys he got for the kids. We laugh out loud when we start reading what the onesies say. Claire's favourite one was one that said 'my mum is hot, but my dad is Owen.' My favourite one was 'Straight Outta Momma.'

Claire opens her basket and she almost passes out. In it were chocolates, bread and what looked like a couple of bottles of wine. At first we were confused, but then we found a letter inside the basket that read: 'These are the same chocolates I gave you guys when you went to the restaurant. Peruvian and Ivorian chocolates for the lady to enjoy. I've also included the best non alcoholic wine there is, so you know, basically grape juice, but the finest of them all. And I was told by Graham (your waiter, remember?) that you loved the bread, so I tweaked the recipe a little and they are completely safe for you to eat. Enjoy lovely Claire!'

"Where's my cell phone? I need to call this man, right now." Claire says.

We talked to Phillip for hours. We laughed so hard, I got worried the babies might be born in that moment.

As weeks start to pass by, Claire's belly starts to grow and grow… and grow. She's 6 months pregnant and we're getting married in a week. A couple of days ago we were talking to Karen on Skype, and when Claire went to the bathroom, Karen told me her belly had been that big when she was 8 months pregnant with both Zach and Gray. I begged her to never repeat those words again. Claire had days were she was moody, mainly at the fact that she couldn't work at the same pace she was used to; moving around all the time exhausted her faster than before.

I wince when I think of what will happen in month 7 and 8. It definitely won't be an enjoyable experience for Claire, but I don't think mine will be a walk in the park either.

"Have you thought about when you are going to take your maternity leave?" I ask Claire one Friday night.

"Technically, I can start next week. The maternity leave starts 11 weeks before the birth. I don't know. What am I going to do all day here? I think I should work until my body can't take it anymore." She tells me.

"I would prefer you stop working a little before that happens. I think month 8 is a good moment to stop. It's your decision, but please don't push yourself too much."

"I won't. I promise."

I turn off the TV and turn to look at her. "There's a little matter we haven't discussed, and we're getting married in a week."

She frowns, thinking. "What is it?"

"Where are we going to spend our honeymoon?"

Her eyes widen. "Oh my God, I completely forgot."

"I was thinking in going to the Swiss Alps, since it's your favourite place, but I don't know if you can fly or, want to fly to Switzerland." I say.

She hums. "Oh, the Swiss Alps! How I wish we could be there right now. But I don't think I can fly there, Owen. Look at me, I'm huge!"

I rub her belly. "We'll call Dr Moretuzzo and ask her, but if she says you can't go, what should we do? Should we just postpone it?"

"Until when? Until they're 18?"

I laugh. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there. We could look for somewhere to go in Pennsylvania, and have our real honeymoon when we find a moment. What do you say?"

She smiles and nods. "I like the sound of that."

I grab my laptop and we immediately start looking for a cool place in Pennsylvania. We research for a little bit, before we find this place in Poconos called Skytop Lodge. It's in the middle of nature and it is so ridiculously beautiful, we cross our fingers as we go to make the reservation.

Only the most expensive room is available, but since it's our honeymoon, we don't measure ourselves. We pay for it and we have a place to spend our honeymoon in for 4 days.

"Okay. See you tomorrow then." I tell Claire.

"See you tomorrow." I lean down to pick up my bag and walk towards the apartment door. "Does this feel like –"

"A chapter is ending and another one is beginning?" Claire literally finishes my sentence.

"Yeah."

She nods. "Yeah, but I think the next chapter is were all the interesting things are going to happen."

I laugh. "Yeah, I think so too." I put my bag down and kiss Claire. She was right when she told me 2 months ago that time was flying by.

We pull apart and we hug. "I can't believe we're getting married tomorrow."

"I know. Tomorrow I'm going to be Mrs Owen Grady." She smiles.

"And I'm going to be Mr Claire Dearing." We laugh. I give her one last kiss and I walk out the door.

I take a cab to the Hotel Palomar, where all my groomsmen are waiting for me. I have 3 groomsmen, Phillip, Barry and Alex.

I've thought of this before, but I can't stop repeating it to myself. I never thought that I would be this person. I never thought I would get married or have kids. I especially didn't think I would marry a woman who I disliked strongly at first. But I will be eternally grateful that I was proven wrong.

The first thing that Claire and I bought for the babies were the cribs. We wanted to have a sense of space, and the cribs were something that we definitely needed. When they were delivered to us about 6 days ago, that thought hit me again. I, Owen Grady, am arranging cribs for my babies with my fiancé by my side. Go back 10 years and tell me this would be me in the future, and I would've laughed out loud in your face.

Now, as I step off the cab and head inside the hotel, I realize that I would've become eventually lost without Claire. Every major change in my life happened because of her. I think I was never happy with anyone I ever dated because what I needed could only be given to me by Claire. I honestly believe we were meant to be, even if at the beginning it didn't look like it.

Looking back, now I know why I told Claire we should stay together for survival. At the time, I don't think I realized what I meant by that, but now I know, I couldn't have survived without her.

That's why when we went to buy our wedding rings, I pretended to forget my credit card and I went back to the store and slipped the jeweller a note. I asked him to engrave 'for survival' in our rings.

I open the door and see Phillip, Barry and Alex talking to each other.

"My groomsmen!" I say closing the door.

"Hey! There he is! Brother!" Phillip walks over to me. I drop my bag at my feet and hug him.

"It's good to see you, man!"

"No time no see, mon ami. Congratulations, Owen!" Barry says. We hug too.

I haven't seen Barry since we left the island. We've talked on the phone a lot, but I knew the moment Claire and I set a date for our wedding, that I wanted Barry right besides me with Phil and Alex.

"Dude, I see you look chill. That's good. How are the babies and Claire?" Alex asks.

"They are great. The babies are moving, kicking and punching and Claire couldn't be more annoyed. It's all happiness." They all laugh.

"Everything is ready, brother. The guys and I decided to divide and conquer. Alex got your tux, Barry picked up the rings and I went to Staples and bought a notepad, because I know you and I know you haven't written your vows."

I shake my head. "No, I haven't. But I actually know exactly what I'm going to say. I just need to write it down."

He walks to the coffee table, picks up the notepad and throws it at me. "Go ahead then. Before it leaves your mind."

I write down my vows and it flows so easily, I'm surprised by the time I'm done. I hand it to Phillip, and Barry and Alex gather around him to read it.

"Brother, that's-"

"Incroyable." Barry finishes for him.

"Yeah, that." Phillip says.

Alex looks up at me. "You are going to make her cry."

"Probably. But have no doubt in your mind she's probably going to make me cry. Particularly with the babies in between the both of us."

Phillip gives me back the notepad and I rip out the page I wrote.

"What do we do now? Netflix and chill?" Alex asks.

I look at Barry and Phillip and they nod. "What the hell. Why not? But let's order some beer first." Phillip says.

And drink some beer we do.

The next day I wake up and lie in bed for a little bit. I'm getting married today. It's weird, I realize, that I feel completely calm. But is it weird, though? I've lived with Claire for more than a year now. I know her, she knows me, we know every little detail about each other. Why would getting married change that? We're just officialising things; actually, we're just legalizing things. It's been official for a long time.

I'm nervous about becoming a father. I don't want to screw up. But despite all the nervousness about becoming a father, I know the kids are going to be just fine. I have Claire by my side; the woman is a bank of information, we'll figure out what to do. Plus we don't have a shortage of people who will help us.

I hear my bedroom door open very carefully and I see Phillip walking in very quietly with a glass of water in hand. He closes the door silently and turns around. When we make eye contact, he looks at me bored.

"Aw, shit! You're awake! I was really looking forward to waking you up like the old days!" He says pointing to the glass of water.

"Not today, Phil." I say cockily.

He puts the glass down and walks to the foot of the bed. "So, today's the big day. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty calm, but very excited." I say sitting up.

He nods. "Good. Then get the fuck up. It's 9am, we have to be there at 11am and we don't know how the traffic is going to be. Why did you two choose a noon wedding, again? Are you both 100?"

I rub my face and look at him. "No, we're not. But she is pregnant with twins. It's not like she can party till the am."

"Oh, right. I have no idea how the body of a pregnant woman works."

"Obviously. Maybe you will someday." I walk to the bathroom and wash my face.

"No, I won't. I plan to be the cool uncle. Your kids will love me more than they will love you. I want to have fun with the kids. I don't want to have to be the disciplinarian. Ever." He knocks on wood.

"Okay." I smile at him.

We get ready and the guys and I go have breakfast.

About two weeks after Claire and I booked the state we're going to get married in, we started brainstorming about everything. Food, music, sitting arrangements, everything. 2 hours later, we almost started ripping our own hair out. There were so many details that had to be addressed; it was overwhelming. In the end, Claire and I hired a wedding planner. We gave her a budget, told her we had the venue and a guests list and let her do all the hard work, while Claire and I took care of all the babies' things.

One afternoon, the wedding planner (Grace, is her name) called us to ask us which song we were going to choose for our first dance as husband and wife; Claire and I looked at each other blankly and told Grace we would call her in a little bit while we thought about it.

"We don't have a song. Do we?" Claire asks me.

I think for a minute about that one. "I don't think we do, no. Do we choose some random song?"

Claire winces a little. "I don't know. Isn't the song supposed to be meaningful?"

"Well, yeah, but if we don't have one…"

We think for a bit, trying to figure out if there was ever a song that was always playing in the background.

There's smoke coming off of our heads by the time we decide that no, we don't have a song.

"Maybe we do have one, but we haven't realised it yet." Claire says.

I frown. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe we need a change in perspective. Call Isa, she's the musical one. Maybe she's seen the song or something." She says reaching for her cell phone.

I raise an eyebrow. "Seen the song? Since when are you so poetic?"

She hits me in the arm with the back of her hand. "Don't tease me. You know what I mean."

She looks for Isa in her contacts, calls her and puts her on speakerphone.

"Hey, Claire!"

"Hi, Isa. How are you?" Claire asks

"Good! How have you been feeling? My niece and nephew?"

We smile at that. "Well, I'm exhausted and hungry all the time and they keep moving, not letting me sleep."

She laughs. "Sleep is for the weak, sis!"

"Ha! I'm gonna love repeating that to you when you have babies!" Claire tells her.

"And I'm sure I'm going to be pissed off when you do!"

"You will. Trust me. Hey, Owen and I want to ask you something."

"Sure. Shoot."

Claire looks at me and motions for me to tell her. "Hey, Isa. So, Grace just called us and asked us about what song we are going to dance to for our first dance as husband and wife, and we've been thinking for a while now, and we can't think of one that means anything to us. So, we wanted to know if you have… seen our song?"

Claire laughs softly.

"You mean what's the first song that pops into my head when I think about you two?" She asks.

I look at Claire and nod. "Yes."

"Thriller."

We both frown. "What?"

She starts laughing, "I'm kidding! You two are so easy. Um, let me think…"

I roll my eyes and shake my head. Thriller? That's funny.

"Sorry guys, from the top of my head, no. I can't think of any song in particular. When do you need to give her an answer?"

"She didn't say, but I'm assuming in a week or so, why?" I ask.

"I can look up a song for you if you want. I'm sure I'll find something. There are a trillion songs out there. We'll find one that fits you, guys."

"That would be amazing, Isa. Thank you!" Claire tells her.

"Of course! Hey, can I keep it a surprise? I'll email Grace and let her know, you guys can find out which song I chose the day of the wedding! Are you cool with that?"

I look at Claire and shrug. "Up to you, babe."

"On one condition." Claire tells Isa.

"What is it?"

"Don't choose a song that will make me want to punch you." Claire laughs.

Isa laughs too. "Wow, someone is turning aggressive!"

I nod. "Yep, that's what I told her a month ago!"

As Phillip drives to Chestnut Hill, I remember the song. "Hey Alex, did Isa choose a song?"

He looks at me and nods. "Yeah, she did. You guys are going to love it. Really."

I smile and nod.

We arrive 40 minutes later and when we step inside the house, I'm met with people moving back and forth, Grace commanding everything.

"Mr Grady! You arrived. Everything is moving along great. We're right on schedule."

I nod. "Great! Thanks, Grace. Everything outside ready?"

She scans through her iPad and looks up at me. "Yes! Everything is ready. You can go look if you want."

I nod. "I want to see how it looks outside, just give me a minute, okay?"

They all nod and head up the stairs to the room we're going to get ready in.

I walk through a magnificent house. Claire and I didn't see the inside of the house, just the outside where the ceremony is going to be. The house is like something out of a movie.

I step outside and see where Claire and I are going to get married. There are two huge tents; in one we're going to get married and in the other one the reception is going to take place. We wanted an outdoor wedding, no tents, nothing, but the weather is still chilly, so we had to put the tents with heating included. I walk across the huge yard and into the tent.

Everything, does in fact, look ready to go. A dark grey carpet has been laid out, and on the aisle there's a bone white carpet. I take off my shoes just in case I get the carpet dirty, and walk down the aisle. I go up the one step, where the magistrate is going to marry us and I turn around to see all the empty chairs.

"Owen Grady is getting married. Who would've thought?" I feel my cell phone vibrate. I pull it from my pocket and answer. "Yep."

"You have to come up, Owen. Isa just called me, the bride is about to arrive. You can't see the bride before the ceremony… or that's what she told, at least."

"Okay, Alex. Be right up." I look around one more time and walk to the house. I climb the stairs and open the door of the room. I see all of them are almost ready.

"What time is it?" I ask them.

"It's 11:15am. The ceremony starts in 45 minutes." Barry says.

"Okay. Let's get myself ready then."

I take a quick shower and get dressed.

"Don't forget your vows." Alex tells me.

"Oh, right." I open my bag and pull the paper out.

"You're getting nervous, aren't you?" he says looking at me up and down.

I crack my neck. "No, I'm n-" I huff. "Yes, I am."

"That's good, man. Get's you hyped." Alex says.

Phillip walks up to me and holds me by the shoulders. "Be nervous, just don't freeze. Okay?"

I nod. "Okay."

There's a knock on the door and Grace's head pops in. "Mr Grady, is time for you to get in position. The guests are already sat."

I nod and she closes the door. "Oh, shit! What if I get so nervous I can barely read my vows? What if I do a Ross and say Rachel instead of Claire? What if- Ow!"

I'm stopped in the middle of my rant by Phillip slapping me. "Calm down! You're not going to screw up, so relax! The moment you see her, you're not going to feel nervous anymore, so stop worrying!"

I rub my cheek and huff. "Okay. You're right. You did not need to slap me, though."

"Why not? It clearly worked."

"That was interesting." Alexander says.

"Yes, it was." Barry agrees.

We walk down the stairs and across the yard. Phillip, Barry and Alex stay behind to come in later with the bridesmaids; who are Isa, Karen and Anna.

It was hilarious having that conversation with Anna. Of course she was delighted for us, but when Claire asked her if she would be her bridesmaid, Anna's face dropped.

"Do I have to wear a dress, Claire?"

"Yes."

"I think you might want Helena, lass. I don't wear dresses, specially if it's pink."

"Ew, no. No pink. Besides I was going to let you guys choose the dress. You are going to be the ones wearing it. Please Anna, say yes. Come on, you're gonna make a pregnant woman with twins beg?!"

"Oh, you manipulative b- Fine! fine! I'll be your bridesmaid."

I stop at the entrance of the tent and take a deep breath.

"Just don't fall or stutter and you should be fine." I whisper to myself.

"Whenever you're ready, Mr Grady." Grace tells me. I nod.

I crack my neck and start walking down the aisle. As soon as the guests see me, I start hearing whispering. I smile as all I see are familiar faces. I'm glad we didn't have a huge wedding. This feels a lot more intimate.

I climb the one step and turn to face the crowd. Everyone is smiling at me. I look to the first row and see mum, dad and nonna there. Mum is already crying and dad and nonna are looking at me as if they were recording the moment in their minds. Gray is sitting alone and I wonder where Zach is. Gray is beaming as always.

I hear the music start and see the guests stand up.

Isabella and Alex start walking down the aisle, followed by Karen and Barry and finally Phillip and Anna. My eyes go to the entrance of the tent once again, and everything slows down around me. I see Claire walking in and I swear my breath catches in my throat. She's wearing a long sleeved dress. The fabric of the sleeves, shoulders and chest is lace. The dress wraps beautifully around her belly and the fabric falls strikingly down. She's wearing her hair up in a bun.

She looks stunning.

Something I honestly wasn't expecting was to feel emotional. I feel myself well up as I see Claire walking down the aisle with Zach. I think my mum notices I'm getting emotional because I listen to her sniffle some more.

Just before they get to the step, they stop and Zach turns to her and hugs Claire. Then he turns to me and 'hands her' to me. I raise my fist to Zach and he bumps it with his and goes sit next to Gray.

I take Claire's hand as she climbs the one step. "You look beautiful."

"You don't look half bad." She tells me.

And the ceremony starts. To be completely honest, I'm not paying any attention to what the magistrate is saying. I'm so lost looking at Claire, I almost not listen to the magistrate say it's time to say our vows.

I let go of Claire's hands and pull the piece of paper I folded earlier today from my pocket. It's pretty wrinkled and I wonder if I should've transcribed it to a new piece of paper.

Too late.

I take a deep breath and start reading. "Claire Dallas Dearing. For more than 10 years, I was a man afraid of commitment. I was a man, who didn't think he would ever find true happiness. I thought I was meant to be alone. That is, until I met you. Our story is not a traditional one. I think we both can agree, we thought we were the last person we each wanted to be with. But when we were standing in that warehouse in Costa Rica, I realized that I had found someone who made me feel like I should aspire for more. I believe we were meant to overcome all those obstacles together for me to see, to understand, that you are the love of my life."

My voice breaks in that last part. I see silent tears coming down Claire's cheeks, but a smile on her face. I continue.

"We're about to start a family. And I never in my life thought that I could feel so much happiness. Everyday I feel like I'm going to burst. And I promise you, in front of our friends and family, that I will be the best version of myself for you and our children, until my last day on this Earth. I promise. I love you."

I'm a strong man. I'm a masculine man. I take pride in my masculinity. I don't cry easily. But right now, I am crying. And I've never felt stronger.

"I love you." Claire tells me sniffing and dabbing at her cheeks.

"Claire." The magistrate motions for Claire to say her vows.

Karen hands her a perfect piece of paper. (She's also crying.)

"How the hell am I suppose to follow after that?" She asks. The guests laugh and I smile at her.

She looks down at her piece of paper and then at me. "After our first date, I thought you were a Neanderthal."

They all burst out laughing, not expecting Claire to open with that. I laugh too.

"But after, as days passed by and we were stuck in the same hotel, I realised you were caring, loving, protective, funny and incredibly loyal. For a very long time, I was a very guarded person. But I found myself telling you all about me and I didn't even realise it. It was so easy for me to open up to you. You changed me in ways I can't even explain. I thought I wasn't capable of love anymore. I was broken and you put me back together. You came into my life when I needed you the most. You saved me from becoming the person I promised my parents I would never become. I now look at life with nothing but positivity. We are so close to becoming parents, and I have no doubt in my mind, you are going to be the best father. Our babies are so lucky to have you. I'm so lucky to have you. I love you, Owen Luca Grady."

Here come the water works again! Shit. Now I understand why people cry at weddings so much.

"Rings, please." The magistrate says. Barry walks up and hands him the rings. "These rings symbolize your commitment in marriage. They remind you of who you are, where you've been, and where you're going. As you wear them through time, they will reflect not only who you are as individuals, but also who you are as a couple. Claire, do you take Owen to be your husband? Do you pledge to share your life openly with him and to speak the truth to him in love?"

"I do." Claire says.

"Owen, do you take Claire to be your wife? Do you pledge to share your life openly with her and to speak the truth to her in love?"

"I do."

He hands Claire my ring, and when she looks up at me, I nod to the ring. She frowns but then she looks down at the ring and sees what I had engraved in it. Her eyes well up again and she slides the ring onto my finger.

"For survival." She tells me.

The magistrate hands me Claire's ring and I slide it onto her finger. "For survival."

"By the power that is granted to me by the state of Pennsylvania; I declare you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

He doesn't need to tell me twice. I lean forward and kiss Claire. And the crowd explodes.

AN:

This chapter was looong, man! I had 46 pages for chapter 24 – Pt. 2, and I thought it was too long to post it as a single chapter, so I split it into 2. So keep on reading, cause there's 23 more pages to go before this chapter officially ends.